US Children of Color Most Affected by Poverty - Advocacy Group

African-American, Native American and Latino children are at a disadvantage compared to kids of other races in the United States, the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) stated in its new report released on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “On nearly all of the measures that we track, African-American, American Indian and Latino children continued to experience negative outcomes at rates that were higher than the national average,” AECF said.

The foundation noted that deep and persistent poverty makes kids more prone to getting pregnant during the teenage years, have poor adolescent health, drop out of school, and face poor employment outcomes.

Parents of around 50 percent of Native American and African-American children had no full-time job in 2013, compared to 37 percent of Latino children, 24 percent of non-Hispanic white children and 23 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander children, according to the report.

“Low family income, low levels of parental education and inadequate housing in a high-poverty neighborhood pose risks to children and are associated with diminished prospects later in life,” AECF added.

The report also cites that US child poverty rate continues to be high, and stood at 22 percent in 2013 “several percentage points higher than before the recession” in 2008.

The AECF is working with US communities and families to develop a better future for children at risk of poor educational, economic, social and health outcomes.